Pearl of the Stars

Captain Grace Ifhans gripped the arm of her chair so tightly her fingers turned white. She watched as on the Pearl’s radar display, Captain Holding’s oversized unit swung around in a wide arc, the trajectory of the vessel’s meaning they’d attack the enemy fleet almost half way down their formation.

Acquiesce had her own unit on a course that all being well, would swing those vessels up above the enemy formation. Captain Casper would then dive straight down and through before coming back around and cutting up through their rear.

Captain Hubbard’s unit led by his vessel the Guardian of Asgaard, intended to cut through enemy ranks on the opposite side to that of Holding, in the hope the two units would meet in the middle.

“Thirty seconds to contact Ma’am,” a Lieutenant said, as Grace made a mental note that should the Fleet survive, she must learn the names of her subordinates.

“Full reverse thrusters!” She yelled out the command. “Divert all available power to front facing shields.” The order went out to all those vessels in the Pearl’s unit, and was obeyed instantly without question.

As the vessels directly under her command reversed at speed, Grace watched as the enemy fleet closed the gap, waiting for the opportune moment.

“Release projectiles! Hit them with everything we have!” At such short range, there was little a vessel could do to avoid the large projectile missiles. “Get me the deck chief.”

“Aye Ma’am,” the Lieutenant replied. “Chief on the com.”

“Chief, send your planes out with the order to aim for the power cores on these big bastards.”

“Yes Ma’am,” the chief replied. “Understood.”

The Fleet consisting of both Council and Others vessels was already several vessels light. The weaponry possessed by their enemy was far superior, and it seemed their targeting system was equally as efficient. Had it not been for Johnson at the Pearl’s helm, the flagship would likely have been blown to fick already.

“Steady as she goes Johnson.” As Grace gave the order she knew it was a pointless one. Emily Johnson was without doubt the most capable pilot in the Council Fleet. She knew what she was doing.

“Razor’s been hit!” Jane Erstwhile’s voice came over the com. Despite the contents of her message, the Captain seemed remarkably calm. “Scrambling fighters. We won’t let them get away with that!”

Due to the fact the Council Fleet was reversing at high speed, the window of engagement was much wider. Had Grace ordered the Fleet accelerate towards them, a hit and run attack might have been possible but she knew that had she given that order, she’d have lost a great many vessels in a short space of time. At least by keeping the window open for longer, there was a greater chance more vessels would stay in the battle longer, and therefore be able to inflict more damage upon the enemy. At least, that was the idea.

“Captain Hubbard’s unit is down,” said the Lieutenant, relaying information Grace could easily access if she had the time. “Captain Holding is through, his unit out the other side. They’re down to half strength but they’ve given the enemy something to think about. Holding’s bringing them back around for a second run.”

The Pearl’s radar showed her fighters leaving the deck. The much smaller vessels were able to dip and dodge between the larger battleships and battlecruisers, and for the most part avoid their weapons fire.

“Swing us up and around Johnson,” Grace ordered. “We’ll drop the nets as we go. I know they won’t stop them, but they might slow them some.”

“Aye Ma’am, coming about.”

***

The battle raged for hours, the Council and Others vessels only able to remain in the fight due to some highly caffeinated piloting. They weren’t going to win though, the enemy was simply to great in number. The fighters had managed to take out over one hundred enemy vessels via their power cores but still, over three thousand remained.

“I have Captain Karavel on the com Ma’am.”

“Captain, what can I do for you?” Grace asked as the Pearl’s shields absorbed a direct hit. “And please, make it quick.”

“We can’t win this Ma’am, not if we play fair.”

“I agree.”

“We can engage our jump drives.”

“There’s a reason we don’t do that in-system, Captain.”

“Aye Ma’am, I am well aware of that,” Karavel replied, a wry smile upon her face. “But there’s no life here. Ryban is a completely uninhabited system.”

“Give the order,” said Grace, turning to one of her Lieutenants.

“But...”

“Give the order, Lieutenant,” she insisted.

“Yes Ma’am.”

***

So many vessels engaging their jump drives in-system was a highly dangerous tactic, and even so far from the system’s star would without doubt send it into a supernova state, desecrating the system within seconds.

Captain Ifhans knew full-well that not all of those vessels under her command would make it. Several would undoubtedly be caught in the blast as their jump drives attempted to whisk them away.

There was another problem with using a jump drive at any point other than one designated for a jump. When a ship utilised a jump point, it was following a pre-assigned route. Without a jump point the drive could take a ship anywhere, and space was one big fickling place.

Seven minutes later the remaining Council and Others vessels engaged their jump drives, sending the star of the Ryban System instantly into supernova. The enemy had not seen it coming, and their entire fleet was destroyed along with the rest of the contents of the system.

***

As she lay naked on her bunk, Grace felt hollow inside. She’d given the order. There had been little choice. It was either that or everyone under her command would have died. But the victory felt empty. She’d single-handedly committed several thousand acts of murder, saving the lives of her crew and the crews of her other vessels in the process.

***

She rushed onto the bridge as the clock counted down to the point the Fleet would exit the jump. After thirteen days she was more than ready to see the blackness of space surrounding her beloved vessel, rather than the off-white of jump space.

“Report,” she barked as the Pearl exited the jump.

“The star is a stable Red Giant. Seven planets, two of them habitable at a glance. One’s a rock in close orbit to the star, the rest are ice or gas giants,” the Lieutenant read off her screen as the information came through to her. “Three asteroid belts. One between planets two and three, the habitable ones. Another further out between five and six, and one that completely surrounds the system.”

“Any signs of life, Lieutenant?”

“No Ma’am,” she replied. “This system is completely uninhabited. No signs that there’s ever been life either.”

“Have we been followed?”

“Not as far as I can tell Ma’am. Other than us and the forty ships we had remaining, there’s no one else here.”

“How far away are we from home?” Grace asked. “Just a rough estimate will do for now.”

“There are no familiar constellations Ma’am. We could be quite literally anywhere in the Universe.” Grace nodded grimly. That was the problem with using the jump drive without a jump point.

***

A little over an hour later, Grace sat in the Pearl’s conference room, screens facing towards her. As she glanced around she shook her head slowly. So few were present. The battle had been a costly one indeed.

“Captains,” she began, speaking very deliberately. “We are the lucky ones. We survived against all odds. If it is OK with you, I’d like to take a moment to remember those who gave their lives that we might live.” There were no protests, not that she’d expected any. Every person present had lost friends, colleagues, and likely extended family too. She glanced at her watch and having allowed a full minute to pass in silence, she spoke again.

“We’ve no idea where we are. For all we know we’re right over the other side of the fickling Universe.” The comment was received by several nods of understanding. “Captain Karavel, the floor is yours.”

All screens turned to face Karavel, as did Grace, and the young Captain took a deep breath before she spoke.

“My fellow Captains, we have two options,” she began. “We can either attempt to return home, a daunting prospect considering we have no idea where we are, nor do we have any idea in which direction home is. The second option is that we make our home here. Of the two habitable worlds, one is more suited to our needs and is more than enough for only six thousand of us. We can build new lives for ourselves, create a new civilisation.” There were murmurs from the Captains gathered, although none were negative.

“Thank you Captain Karavel,” said Grace with a nod. “So I put it to you, Captains. We are taking a chance either way but I shall put it to vote. Either we take our chances here, or we don’t.” She glanced around at the screens, ensuring to meet the eyes of all those in attendance, and smiled.

Fin